Meet the Real Ross Geller

Ask anyone to name a palaeontologist (dinosaur expert) and most of them will only know one (and a fake one at that) offhand – Dr. Ross Geller, of Friends fame, played by the affable David Schwimmer. What most people don’t know is that there is a very real palaeontologist who, by a daft coincidence, has the same name as the aforementioned actor.

Fun bit of trivia (which you can use to impress your friends and fellow attendees when you visit Geek Ireland’s Dublin Comic Con panel ‘Dinosaurs On Screen: The Good, The Bad & the Raptorous‘ on Sunday) aside, what has Professor David R Schwimmer – scientist been up to lately? Well, apart from being part of the team of palaeontologists which named and described the tyrannosaur Appalachiosaurusmontgomeriensis in 2005, he is one of the world’s leading authorities on giant prehistoric crocodiles.

One in particular, called Deinosuchus – a close to 40 foot long behemoth whose name aptly means ‘terrible crocodile’, got quite a bit of media attention in 2010 when Schwimmer revealed evidence that it attacked and probably ate large tyrannosaurs. That’s right, this croc was so monstrous that it had the power and sheer audacity to take on cousins of the mighty T. rex.

“One of the marks shows signs that the bone was healed, which means that the animal survived the bite”, said Geller (sorry, Schwimmer – force of habit!). That piece of information is a testament to the monumental badassery of tyrannosaurs – a crocodile the size of a bus takes a bite out of one of these things and they shrug it off and live to fight another day. It’s no wonder they are referred to as the ‘tyrants’ of the age of the dinosaurs.

“The team also found a fossilized shark tooth embedded in the outside of a coprolite. But because the tooth bears no signs of having been digested, the team suspects a shark left the tooth behind when scavenging on Deinosuchus droppings.”

So there you have it; giant crocodiles that battled tyrannosaurs and sharks that ate the poo of said giant crocodiles for a living.

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About The Author

Sean is Geek Ireland's resident dinosaur enthusiast, having been fascinated by prehistory since a time before he could read (it's not as long ago as you might think!) - he recently completed a degree in Dinosaur Paleobiology.
In his spare time, Sean writes for Geek Ireland predominantly about science fiction and monster movies. A sucker for a "so bad it's good" creature feature, he can often be found rooting through the bargain bins of DVD shops, looking for 'diamonds in the rough'.